Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC Edition Video Card Review

Final Thoughts and Conclusions

So there we have it: the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC (GV-N56GOC-1GI) Video Card. It ran well in all of our little tests and it survived the punishment we threw at it. The Windforce Cooling system on the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC (GV-N56GOC-1GI) Video Card is one of the best coolers I have tested; it kept the card at a nice cool 73 degrees even at a full load. For being an Overclocked Series card, its core clock is only set to 830 MHz where most of the overclocked GTX 560’s I have seen have a core speed of 850. But hey, even at 830 MHz it still kept up with the competition and in a few cases it stomped it. The GTX 560 GPU was put on the market to compete with the Radeon 6850 series and in most cases, as mentioned before, it bested the 6850 and came really close to the 6870 in some cases.

With a price point of $169.99 shipped as well as a 3 year warranty, the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC (GV-N56GOC-1GI) Video Card is right on par with the other cards in its class, and to me it seems to be worth it for the cooling power that you get. At the time of the writing of this article you can get an HIS Radeon HD 6870 video card for around $165.00 after rebate. To me this seems to be a no brainer for which card makes the most sense. The ASUS Radeon 6870 OC that we used in this review has a 15 MHz higher overclock over the HIS on Newegg and did tend to run a bit faster than the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC (GV-N56GOC-1GI) Video Card, so will the -15 MHz make that big of a difference? I don’t think so. What it comes down to is power, cooling and overall speed for the price and I think the Radeon 6870 is the better bet at this time. With a better price the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC (GV-N56GOC-1GI) Video Card would fare a little better. But hey, once the price of the 6870 goes up, you are good to go. Just make sure you have at least a 500 watt PSU. Gigabyte doesn’t give a suggested +12V rail Amperage, but from what we
can tell you need at least 24 Amps available on the +12V rail to run
this video card and two six pin power connectors if you want to take this bad boy for a ride.

The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC (GV-N56GOC-1GI) Video Card put up very playable and respectable numbers across the board. The only exception would be a sub 30 FPS performance seen in the Unigine Heaven Benchmark, but we all know that isn’t a real hame. I know I have said it a number of times, but the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC (GV-N56GOC-1GI) Video Card does very well for its price, stays super cool and does it all at a quiet 31dB.

The Legit Bottom Line: The Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 OC (GV-N56GOC-1GI) is a solid performing card that features an exceptional GPU cooler.